The Year of the Ox

Happy Chinese New Year! (or as it is known here, Imlek)

To celebrate Howie, Chad, Trish and I headed to Glodok, Jakarta's Chinatown, to check out what was going on. I have to admit that I was not expecting much. The last time Howie and I went almost 2 years ago we were significantly underwhelmed. Today was quite the opposite. It was great.

The first stop was Gloria market, which was totally hopping. There were tons of little red envelopes for Chinese New Year money gifts, lanterns, ox adorned everything, incense and flowers for temple visits and delightful little snacks that only come out this time of year. We wandered the alleys and picked up a few things - some sort of rice flour, palm sugar thing that you are supposedly supposed to fry and eat, some delish smelling coffee beans that had been roasted with sesame seeds, custard apples (these are a fruit) and along the way a quick stop for some handmade dumplings.We breezed by the many frogs on the way to being only frog legs, turtles on the way to being turtle soup, leeches for medicinal purposes and snakes for lord knows what.We also made a visit to a couple temples. There are quite a few tucked away throughout Glodok and then main one was really a sight to see. It was packed with both worshippers and beggars who we are told come from far and wide this time of year to receive the generosity of some guys who distribute about Rp. 3000 (about 30 cents) to anyone who is there. Supposedly they come every day for a week and just pass out the cash. We cannot really understand how this is lucrative enough to come from afar, but someone must have done the math (and realized that this is not the most orderly system of passing out money so you are able to collect more than once.) We decided not to stick around to see it all happen as the crowds were huge and it seemed like chaos was sure to ensue.Inside the temple, the smoke from incense was intense and there are huge candles (we are talking 6 feet tall and 1 foot wide and bigger) all around. It was amazing to watch everyone lighting candles (small ones), incense and throwing their paper wishes into the fire. It was easy to forget where you were, and we were both quickly taken back to China and memories of celebrating there.

Fifi and Dani Get Married

Fifi is one of our friends from the marketing department at HighEnd and the other week she plopped a wedding invite on our desks. This was quite a shock since we did not even know that Fifi had a boyfriend. What came as a double shock was when she said she had actually been married for about 6 months and this was just the party (what I lovingly refer to as the bash for cash.) Very typical of Indonesian weddings - the intricate and complicated Javanese ceremony, the part we find the most interesting, is intimate and only for family - and the big party is open to anyone and everyone.As you might remember from our last wedding, the process is basically put on your batik, head to the enormous hall (this particular one was near our old place and was holding 6 weddings on the same night, we are disappointed we had not crashed weddings there when we lived in the neighborhood), sign the book, drop your money filled envelope in the box, receive a weird and somewhat random gift (this time a lovely batik tissue box holder... eek), wait on line to shake hands and say congrats to the bride and groom, eat and leave.There were well over 1,000 people at the wedding and poor Fifi and Dani spent the whole two hours shaking hands, her with an insanely heavy looking headdress on. We had fun eating whatever we could, it was a good spread, and hanging out with other work people.

Yum!!!

A box of these showed up, along with a press release, in our office today. Ick.

Our Inaugural Ball

As you may have seen on CNN, we attended the Democrats Abroad celebration in Jakarta on Inauguration Day. We made a brief appearance on CNN International in a clip they've been airing about the event. We're also in a Reuters photo that's been picked up online in a bunch of places... (http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/slideshow/photo//090120/ids_photos_wl/r4009770437.jpg)The event was a lot of fun. There were maybe 600 people and a lot of excitement in the air. The room was decorated with lots of Obama election memorabilia (all of which was up for auction at the end of the evening) and they had some bands, a trivia contest (which a team of Indonesians won) and the CNN International live viewing started at 10:30 PM. There was Obama cheering, Bush booing and everything you would expect. Truly the "people's party" this event was free, while the celebs and big-wigs partied at the Ritz at about 100 bucks a pop. Our low end event proved to contain what we believe was every white person we know or have met here in Jakarta. It was honestly a little overwhelming - we have not been in a room with that many non-Indonesians in a long, long time. But, considering the event, I guess it was appropriate and to be expected.

There were also a good number of Indonesians there, some even with their faces painted in red, white and blue. This particular mom and kid really gave us a giggle, she was uber excited and I think he came for the ice cream. There are few moments living here as expats that we are proud to be American and we relished in it last night.

A Night at the Symphony

Last weekend we attended a performance of the Symphonia Vienna, who were in town for a couple of HighEnd-sponsored concerts.  We're not big symphony fans, but it was fun.  The star of the show was Rama Widi, a famed Indonesian teen harpist.  There was also a fantastic yodeler. 

The highlight of the show was the premiere of a new piece of music by a local composer, which was accompanied by traditional dancers.  The best part were the Balinese hats they made the poor European musicians wear.

 

An Awkward Farewell

At the beginning of last week an email appeared in the inboxes of everyone in the office inviting us all to lunch.  It seemed like a nice holiday season-type lunch invite, but it wasn't really specific on the reason behind the invite.  

The next day we all went to lunch at Times Square restaurant in one of the fancier malls.  It was an all-you-can-eat buffet run by the Kempinski hotel and was actually pretty good food.  There were no speeches, no toasts and no mention of it being a special occasion.  We all went back to work afterward and proceeded with a normal afternoon.  

About half an hour after returning to the office we were all called in to a meeting.  There, the owner of the company started the meeting with something like, "Howie & Haviva - we hope you enjoyed your special farewell lunch."  I think I responded something like, "er, um, that was for us... I mean, thank you."   She and her daughter (the editor in chief) then presented us with traditional puppets as a going away gift.  

A good, though awkward, time was had by all.  

Norman

There is no way you know a cuter snail.

Happy New Year!

With 11 days of vacation, Howie and I lit the Hanukkah candles on December 26th and headed out the next morning for Pulau Weh - a not so small island off the coast of Sumatra.

Actually, Weh is only about a one hour ferry ride from the tragically famous Banda Aceh, where the tsunami hit 4 years ago. Our flight arrived in Banda at about noon and then ferry was not until 4, so with some time to kill, we decided to take the now popular tsunami tour. We grabbed a driver outside the airport, Miswardi, and struck a deal for 3 hours including lunch and a tour of Banda.

Lunch was mie aceh - a variation on the typical Indonesian fried noodles here, but these are extra spicy and come with delightful pickled shallots that add a really nice touch. 

There is some rumor that one of the things that gives mie aceh its distinct flavor is marijuana, which we were told is commonly used in Acehnese cooking, but we did not see any actual evidence of this. The place Miswardi took us was clearly a local hot spot and we had a good meal, feeling merely satiated when it was over, nothing more.

From there, Miswardi took us to one of the famous tsunami sights - a boat that landed 5 km inland into the middle of a kampung (village). I do not know what we were expecting, but this was not it. This is not just a boat, it was a huge boat. A ship. Just sitting there in the middle of the kampung, houses around it and, clearly, houses under it as well. While quite a few boats washed inland, most have been or are in the process of, being broken down and taken away. 

This huge ship will stay where it is and act as a monument to the memory of the tsunami.The ship itself is in shockingly good shape, with no parts pilfered. If it were not in the middle of the neighborhood, one might deem it sea worthy and send it on its way. Next to the ship, they have also built a small park and a little museum, which were impressive, as well.From there we went to another neighborhood where this boat sits on top of a couple houses, also right in the middle of a kampung. Even seeing it, the tragedy is hard to understand.To lighten the mood and take part in another thing Aceh is famous for, we hit the local famous coffee shop, Chek Yoke. Along the canal, this open air place is a favorite local hangout for young people in Banda. Since there is no drinking in Banda, coffee and cakes are the next best thing. The coffee was great and the table full of kue, even better. Kue are usually cakes, but the word is used loosely with snacks. They are served here like tapas - small plates with usually 4 pieces on each - and the table gets a variety of sweet and savory, steamed and fried goodies. The little pancakes filled with what was very close to dulce de leche were our favorite.

From there it was finally on to Pulau Weh. Weh is a much bigger island than we expected with a crazy coastline. There is not that much beach, but the rocky coast is a great place to just plop in the water and go for a snorkel. We spent the better part of the 6 days there in the water near

 Iboih beach - a popular diving and backpacker hangout.

We met our friends Barb and Scott there and, since they are big divers, we head out with them in the morning on the dive boat, snorkeled, came back for lunch, went out again with the dive boat in the afternoon and then spent the rest of the day on our little deck reading and napping. It was VERY relaxing and we saw some great stuff snorkeling, including an octopus that was out and about for all to see, lobsters, massive stingrays and some amazing huge schools of fish. Visibility was pretty incredible and we were really lucky with the weather.
New Year's itself was very low key. We met up with about 25 other travelers at one of the cafes where they had a special new year meal and then everyone went down to the beach for a little

 countdown, a few sad fireworks and few stolen kisses in the dark. It was a really nice way to ring in the new year as far as I am concerned. Anytime there is a little sand between my toes I am happy.
We headed back to Banda the next day, made sure Barb and Scott enjoyed a coffee and kue at Chek Yoke and then made our way back to Jakarta. It is hard to believe it is 2009 and for that matter that we have only one month left on our contracts, most likely about six weeks left as residents of Jakarta. Should be a pretty exciting year to come...

Jews in Jakarta

We went to a Shabbat dinner last weekend that a member of the American embassy held in memorial for the rabbi and his wife that were killed in Mumbai. She had served in Mumbai before Jakarta and had been quite close to them. It was held at the American Club, which is basically Jakarta's version of a country club for American expats. I was expecting the evening to be like our Passover - mix of Jewish and non-Jewish expats, a few prayers and some food.

I knew there were Jews from Indonesia, but from what I could find out they lived in Surabaya (the other side of Java), the only synagogue there had closed a while ago and there were very few, if any, really around. Boy, was I misinformed. Turns out there is a Jewish community right here in Jakarta and they even have a head of the community, who by the way looks like he was plucked out of any community in Boca Raton, comb over and all.

Walking in the door, the first shock was a black hatter that was clearly Indonesian, which was followed by the surprise of the yenta sitting across from us who also Indonesian, but somehow a complete stereotype of a person she has most likely never met. The rabbi it turns out was educated in Singapore and has a "schul" in Manado, a mostly Christian city on the island of Sulawesi. (Schul is in quotes as I could not get a congragent number nor a real location.) He was particularly excited by the black hat and get up he got from Chabad, who I think would take it away had they seen him chatting on his cell phone and taking a cab... on Shabbat. But boy, was he excited.

The yenta and the "Jewish ciommunity leader" let us know that most of the Jews in Jakarta, and also from Aceh, are of Dutch ancestry. The Jews of Surabaya, they say, come from Bagdahd. It was unclear exactly when they were driven out of Indonesia, but they were and since then they have been practicing secretly in people's homes. They gather for holidays and these days most head to Bali for the big holidays where, they import rabbis from Australia. There was a Passover Seder of about 150 this year. While they cannot declare Judaism as a religion on their resident cards, practicing is a bit easier and a little less secret than it was. Athough I gather not 100% out in the open either.

The hysterical part of the evening was when I was introduced to this woman:
You cannot tell quite how crazy she is from this picture, but the fact that she has proclaimed me her daughter and tried to set me up with her son ("He has 6 degrees - BA, BS, MBA, PhD...") with Howie sitting right there should tell you something. Turns out we share a common name - Cohen - and she was VERY excited about that. Her mother was Indonesian and father a Dutch Jew. Her mom died when she was 3 and her father left her with Christians and fled the country. Forty years later, she found out her dad was Yaakov Cohen and she was Jewish. She is now an active member of the Jakarta Jewish community. She spent a good deal of the nigth with her arm around me repeating "I am Cohen. You are Cohen! You are my daughter! You should meet my son...." Those migth be the only words she knows in English...

Stunning views, beautiful beaches and too much work

Sorry it has been a while since our last posting. It seems these days we are always on deadline, but that is hardly a good excuse.

Rainy season has hit Indonesia hard and this morning we woke to a stunning sight. Who knew there were volcanoes within view of our building? It was a great thing to wake up to, especially since the rest of the day was pretty much s*&^.

Because of Christmas and New Years and another Indonesian holiday stuck in there, the January magazine has been going at full steam since the end of November. Luckily, the month started with a uber long holiday that we got to spend in a stunning villa in Bali. It was the same villa we stayed at with Howie's parents when they were here, but this time we were with our friends John and Shelley, who now live in E. Timor, and Peter and Chirstina (they live here in Jakarta).The villa itself was great - it has a fabulous private pool that we spent a lot of time in - but they were a little less giving of the freebies this time around. We each were offered a 1/2 hour free massage, but this time it was non-transferable. Last time Howie's mom and I each got an hour when the guys were not interested, but I am guessing I am not going to get much sympathy for that complaint.
Anyway, we ate, drank, caught up, did some snorkeling, played on the awesome deserted beach only a 5 min walk away and even made it into town for our two favorite restaurants - Zulas, the organic vegan place that has amazing falafel and Mykonos, a delish Greek place. Great weekend and a perfect way to start a very crazy month.

Oh! And the added perk - I saw myself on an EF billboard on our way out of town! Too bad I look a little crazy.

An Expat Thanksgiving

HAPPY TURKEY DAY EVERYONE!

Our Thanksgiving meal was as traditional as you can get here with a potluck. We started off with wine and cheese and then there was pumpkin soup, turkey (imported from Iowa of all places), garlic/shallot mashed potatoes, spicy creamed spinach, ratatouille stuffing, cranberry sauce (from a can sadly, but still good) apple pie and mango crumble (that might be the most Indonesian touch of the evening.)

It was an international crowd consisting of 7 Americans, 1 Brit, 1 Canadian and an Australian, but that is to be expected in these parts. My friend Christina came over during the day and we cooked up a storm and then lugged all the goodies off to the Ritz, where Christina and Peter live, for dinner. Our place was just too small and the Ritz generously contributed a big table, chairs, table settings for 10 and maids who clean everything up the next day. How could we pass that up? The staff was VERY excited when we arrived with all the food and very curious to know all about the turkey. There was a moment of fear in the elevator where we suspected the bell boy was not going to let us out without getting a taste.In line with Thanksgiving everywhere, we ate, we drank, we laughed and had a great time. Of course we were missing home a bit, but that is how it goes and it was nice to have an expat family to celebrate with. We certainly have a lot to be thankful for!
Hope you all had a good holiday as well!

Our High End Lives

It's been a high end couple of weeks for the Parnes'. We have finally started to take much-deserved advantage of our jobs. Last weekend we flew to Lombok on a work assignment to write about the hottest new luxury boutique hotel on the island.  It opened a few months ago, so they invited us out to check it out.

We arrived to find out that we were the only guests for the first night and that two other rooms would fill on the second night.  It turned out the other two rooms were for a photographer and fashion model in town to do a shoot, so we basically had the place to ourselves.  

The hotel is on a deserted stretch of beach in the northeast corner of Lombok. It's part of a small chain (this is property #4) of 'art hotels' that are each absolutely gorgeous.  We expected it to be impressive, but it was unreal.  

Being the only people there, we were given the best suite (which goes for $450+/nt) and treated like royalty.  Our suite was easily the nicest room we will ever stay in in our lives.  The entire footprint of the suite was 140 square meters, which included the private plunge pool overlooking the ocean, koi pond and enormous outdoor bathroom.  The room itself was 80 square meters, which is bigger than our two-bedroom apartment in Jakarta.

We spent two full days lounging, getting massages, snorkeling and just enjoying the luxurious surroundings. We also enjoyed a lovely romantic private dinner on the beach. Needless to say, we'll have nice things to say in the magazine.

This past weekend I was flown to Singapore to report about a luxury hotel there.  I took Haviva with me out of pity. While it wasn't a beachfront hotel all our own, it was an executive room with access to the non-stop buffet and open bar of the executive lounge.  It was also inclusive of a ridiculous complimentary dinner at the upscale Cantonese restaurant downstairs. 

The highlight of the weekend was our pair of fourth row seats to the Saturday matinee of Avenue Q, which the theater comped us for having written a nice story about them.  It was the cast and crew of the Filipino production, and it was fantastic.  Neither of us has seen the Broadway production, but it's hard to believe it is any better. 

Sunday we spent the day at the Singapore Zoo, enjoying the fresh air and organized splendor that is Singapore.

Back to reality this week as it's crunch time for getting our December issues out...   

There's a Haviva in Australia!

Our friends the Holdaways have a farm in Australia and recently I was honored to find out that a new calf was named Haviva. I have no idea what I did for the honor, but I am more flattered than I think the Holdaways thought I would be.

Obama-rama

History was made yesterday and while we were not in the U.S. to cast a ballot and feel really American, we were able to celebrate here with Democrats Abroad. In typical Indonesian fashion, the celebration was at a mall, but it was easy to forget where you were and just revel in the moment none the less. As many of you know, Americans are not the only ones happy with this result and there was a pretty diverse crowd, adding to a more American feel.

They sold some great t-shirts, showed the speech on the big screen and even dropped red, white and blue balloons from the ceiling. Some of Obama’s old classmates from Jakarta were there as well, and it was great to see how excited Indonesians are about all this. There is an incredible sense of pride for them that the next American president has such a connection to their country.

It was a great night and while we are missing America more than ever, we are thrilled it will be a very different country whenever it is we get back there.

Star Teen 2008

Sorry it has taken so long to give you all the update on Star Teen 2008. I know you are all at the edges of your seats. Well, despite the very horrible weather that Howie and I both thought would certainly ruin everything, the event was quite a hit and a lot of fun, even for us managing editors.

As it turned out, the event was much more made for TV than we realized. The studio where it was being taped was really small, so the off-air show proved to be quite an event. They created this “festival” kind of scene (think summer rock concert for teens) with a few booths, some local bands and dance troops and clowns, men on stilts and circus freaks walking around. It was a little odd, but there was a decent turn out. The highlight for me was the 10 meter wall that our design guy made with a life-size photo of each of the contestants, posing of course. All these teens and parents were running up to the wall and taking their pictures with their favorite. It was funny to watch.

Howie and I spent most of the pre-show in the VVIP tent, hanging out with parents and siblings of the finalists and advertising clients. Not a bad gig – the food was yummy and the company was not so bad either. It was great to see all the nervous families, so excited for their kids.

The show itself was 2 hours and the focus was much more on the bands and “stars” than it was on the Star Teens, which might have been for the best. They did their little catwalk thing, danced, changed outfits a couple times and even answered a couple questions from the judges, but it was the crowd that made the show. There were maybe 100 seats for the studio audience and in MTV style they packed the floor of the room with teens, who all had signs for their favorites and were cheering loudly. There were definitely some crowd favorites and the signs these guys made were pretty impressive.

In the end, Nirwan, a somewhat alternative looking guy with a socialite mother and a sinetron (soap opera) sibling won for the guys and a cute girl names Felicia won for the girls. It might have been rigged, but you did not hear it from me.